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Reading Without Walls Display

You may have noticed there’s a brand new display at the Library! Wondering what it’s all about? Well, gather around and I’ll tell you. Last year, the Library of Congress, Children’s Book Council, and Every Child A Reader appointed Gene Yang the fifth National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.

Side-note: If you aren’t already acquainted with the storytelling and drawing skills of Mr. Yang, you have so many treats in store for you and I am jealous.

On his website, Yang wrote, “Every National Ambassador picks a platform. Mine is Reading Without Walls. I want every kid — every reader, really — to explore the world through books. Books have played a vital role in getting me outside of my comfort zone. I believe they can do the same for you.

As National Ambassador, I issue you a challenge! I challenge you to read without walls in one of three ways:

1. Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.

2. Read a book about a topic you don’t know much about.

3. Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read for fun. This might be a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, a picture book, or a hybrid book.

If you really want to go for the gold star, read a book that fits all three criteria!

When you finish, take a photo of you and the book (or just the book if you’re shy) and post it on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ReadingWithoutWalls. You’ll inspire others to do the same!”

We enlisted the help of our Teen Library Council to build a wall of Legos that we need your help to dismantle, one block at a time, as we read books that meet one of Yang’s three criteria.

All you need to do is

a) grab a sheet from the Children’s Mezzanine desk,
b) fill it out with information about the book you read and how it met the challenge, and
c) hand it to a librarian so you can take off a Lego and add your note to the display so others will be inspired to follow your example!

All ages are welcome to participate.

If you’re looking for a good book to start with, we highly recommend American Born Chinese, a graphic novel with three separate plotlines featuring a lonely Chinese-American student, an All-American boy, and the Chinese folk hero Monkey King. It is a 2006 National Book Award Finalist, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album; a New York Times bestseller.